Apparatus foe extracting precious metals



A. OTT. APPARATUS FOR EXTBAGTING PRECIOUS METALS.

N0. 75,294; Paten-ted Mar. 10 1868.

Z/iinesses I 6262 A 177M3 7)??? 9 I gnaw g nt. gaunt @ffirc ADOLPH OTT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ANTONIO PELLETIER, OF

-WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Lam Patent No. 75,294, dated ZlIarch 10, 1868.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EXTRAQTING PRECIOUS METALS;

IO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, ADoLPn OTT, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Extracting Precious Metdls; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The nature of this invention consists in an improved apparatus, hereafter described, so constructed and. combined that thedesulphurizin g process of the ore, tailings, or residuum. from other treatments is effected in a more perfect manner than in any apparatus hitherto built for that purpose,'and.that the impurities or refuse of.the ore are made available as reducing-agents by the construction of suitable condensers and absorbers made for that purpose. I

I My drawing represents a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus for extracting precious metals.

The apparatus is composed of the desulphuriz ing-.furnacc A, and of three circular evens, C, D, and E, and

of a condensing-chamber F, with appendages, as follows: G is a fireplace, havingair-tight doors above and below its fire-bars, and a pipe, H, arranged to regulate the supply of air under. the said fire-bars for the purpost hereafter explained. In the centre of the furnace A is placed the vertical shaft 1, resting'on the rest J, and having suitable gearings,,K, to communicate to it at pleasure a rotary motion. L L L" are arms, fastened to the shaft I, and having suitable wings, scrapers, or rakers fastened thereon to agitate the mineral resting on the hearths of the ovens G, D, and E, and by their peculiar conformation to cause said mineral to travel from the centre to the circumference, and from the circumference to the centre, as hereafter described. M is the funnel shaped pipeer flue, through which the mineral is introduced. N is the flue or passage through which the roasted mineral is discharged into the cooling-chamber O P, P, 1, P', P ',P and S are the fines, through which the flame, smoke, and gases find their way from the furnace Gto the stack Q. Ris' a condensing-chamber, having a door, R, closed when the apparatus is in operation, and open to remove the products of condensation in the chamber R. is a trough, with a perforated bottom in the manner of a shower-bath. U is a fine, circulating around the ovens in the body of the brick-work, and having a number of small holes, V IV V V; which establish a ccmmunication'between the said flue U and the ovens C and D. X is the pipe coming from the blast-apparatus, fan, or blower, arranged so as to supply either cold or hot air, and having the pipe Y,

through which steam may be introduced and missed with the air to be delivered in the flue U. Z is a. trough or cistern for holding the liquid running down from the stack and flue S.

The apparatus B is composed of the following parts' a is the apparatus for producing chlorine gas or other' gases '6 b are-two or more tanks, closed at the top by tight trap-doors, C C, with slide-doors e e at the bottom,

so that they can with facility be filled and emptied. ff is the framework upon which the tanks 6 b, &e., are mounted, and g is a movable chute, which can be placedalternately under any of the tanks 6 b b, &c.' It is a centrifugal strainer, mounted on a vertical shaft, is, resting on the beuringi, and put in motion from the pulley j, or any other suittible gearing. Z isthe casing of the centrifugal strainer, with its drain-pipe m, leading into the tank 2. p are pipes, leading from the apparatus ainto the tanks b b, and having suitable valves,n n n n, 310., to allow of the gas or gases being introduced at pleasure from the top or from the bottom in the tanks b b. 1 is a steamfipc, for introducing steam at will into the tanks I: b, &c-.

p v I I 7 Operation. v

The. desulphurizing -process is carried on in. the furnace A, as follows: The pulverized ore, tailings, or residuum from other treatments, mixed or unmixed with suitable chemicals, ,areintroduced into the oven E through the funnel M, which is kept constantly full,so as to prevent the escape of gases through it. A fire is. kin'dled in the fireplaceG, and when the ovens have attained the proper degree of heat the processbeg ins. The shaft I is set in motion, which causes the scrapers L L L to revolve, I The ore in the ovens is gradually spread upon the floor, first in the oven E, from centre to circumference, until it drops by the flue 1 into the oven D, where, the hearth being depressed near the centre, the ore is brought from the circumference to the centre, dropping gradually upon the helix S to the centre of the oven 0, where the scraper L", by 'ts peculiar shape 1 man 2 aml'n'xotion, not only spreads the one over the hearth, but causes it to fall through the fluc N into the chamber 0. During the time that'this mechanical movement ofthe ore is going on, the heat of the furnace G, in cir--.

culating through the ovens C, D and E, accomplishes the chemical action and change required, assisterlby a mixture of heated air and steam, introduced in the ovensU and D immediately over the ore, through the holes V V V V, and by other gases or vapors, and the product of the combustion of the fuel in the furnace G, man-- aged with a proper introduction of air into the ash-pit by the pipe H. p 1

In the process of dcsulphurizing or roasting the volatile metals, zinc, antimony, arsenic, sulphur, &c., will he collected in the cooling-chambers R and F, and the gases or vapors soluble in water or alkaline lye, will be absorbed in the flue S by the shower of water er lye falling from the trough T. .The desulphurized ore is now introduced into the tanks 6 b, & c., where it is treated with gases or vapors'in presence of a certaiuquantity of steamfand the pastymaterial resulting from that treatment is dropped-into the centrifugal strainer k, where it is separated into two parts, the liquid portion running through the pipe m into the reservoir z,'and the dry or exhausted portion remaining in the eentrifugual drainer to be shovelled out, and to make room for a new charge.

v Claims. I I

" What I ciaim as new in'my apparatus, is-

. 1. The ore-roasting furnace A, composed of a series 'of ovens,-C D E, with alternate flat and. depressed hearths, in eombinationm'ith the shaft I, arms L L L, fiues P P I P P',- flues M and N, and chambers R and 1", arranged and operating as set forth.

2. In an oven for roasting ore, the flue S and tank T. '3. The combination of the flue U, holes V V V V, and ovens G D E, with the pipe 2: and y. 4. The ap aratus 13, composed of the apparatus a, tank VI; 6 b, and strainer k, arranged together and operating as specified.

' ADOLPH OTT- [L- 5,]

Witnesses:

Groncr. SIMON, M. FLEURY. 

